With less than a week to prepare for the primary, the Bucks County Republican Party knows where to find free help when it needs it.

Three or four times a week, groups of county employees spend their lunch hour at party headquarters across the street from the county courthouse in Doylestown and stuff envelopes, put together lawn signs and do other work for the Republicans, party Chairman Harry Fawkes said.

"I don't really see that it's a big issue as long as it's not on county time," Fawkes said. "All they do is ask them if they want to volunteer, and we have lunch for them."

Fawkes said the party is busy before elections and gives the employees free lunch for their help. Sometimes, county employees call the party to see if they can help, he said.

"They can come there to eat lunch instead of going to a restaurant," he said. The party buys sandwiches and pizza for them. Fawkes said the menu for one session this week included chicken, cole slaw and potato salad.

But John Murray, the chairman of the county Democratic Party, said the Republicans' recruiting county employees is part of an ongoing problem with GOP control of the courthouse. Republicans hold every row office.

"The only thing they haven't done yet is bring the stamps and envelopes over to the courthouse so they can sit at their desks and do it at their leisure," Murray said.

Employees from the prothonotary's office spent their lunch time Wednesday in Republican headquarters stuffing envelopes and preparing mailings for the GOP candidates in the election.

Before lunch, an employee went around the office asking others if they were planning to go to headquarters and taking down their names. Fawkes said the list was probably so the party could order the correct number of sandwiches.

Fawkes said that while he did not know the employees taking part in the preparations, they come from more than the prothonotary's office.

Prothonotary Patricia Bachtle said she is unsure how often her employees go to assist at headquarters. She said she doesn't keep track of who signs up to go.

The employees take part in the mailing sessions as volunteers, she said. She said she rarely recruits volunteers.

"I may have asked somebody to go around and ask if anybody wants to go over a couple times," Bachtle said.

She said employee participation in preparing for an election does not affect an employee's career or salary.

"They are all union employees," she said.

Marc Golden, a representative of the union at its headquarters in Norristown, said he was unaware of the activities.

Commissioner Sandra Miller, a Democrat, said nothing in the county's employment policies would prevent the activity as long as the workers go to headquarters during their lunch period.

Miller said most employees are connected to a political party.

"Most employees in the row offices have their jobs because of their political actions or those of their relatives," she said.